Thanks for the Coffee
by macaroni16
Summary: AU: My take on what would've happened if Gemma had left Ty at the Airport Café. Told from the perspective of one of the witnesses at the Café (A.K.A one of the "Addams Family" members that Ty had mentioned.)


I sat in the Airport Café, to buy a cup of tea for myself, while my family and I waited for our flight, which would be leaving in about 20 minutes.

I looked for a place to sit, and saw that there were two empty tables, one facing the window next to some fake palm trees, and another right next to it. I don't like people watching me drink and I didn't want any fake leaves falling into my tea, so I made my way toward the other table, with my family following behind. I sat down, and sipped my tea. My wife had been arguing with me and nagging me and our other two children hadn't been making it easier by crawling under the table, making such a fuss.

I looked toward the counter and saw a girl about the age of my oldest daughter, sixteen or seventeen, dark hair, and wearing tank top that would've made me uncomfortable if my daughter were wearing it in public. She ordered her coffee and watched it being made. I heard someone else walking in and saw a man, blonde hair, tanned skin, eyes of maybe blue or grey, I couldn't really tell, making his way towards the table next to me, the one next to the window and the plants. He looked old, old for her. He was probably in his early or mid-twenties by the looks of it, but I brushed the thought away. I saw that he was looking at her with such an intensity that made me feel as though that wasn't the first time he saw her. The girl turned around and he looked away, nervously.

Her ready coffee was being held by the guy behind the counter, probably waiting for her to get her money out to pay. She fumbled through her purse and pulled out some foreign-looking coins. The guy shook his head, pulled the coffee away and told her something. She was probably from England, by the look of the coins and her accent.

The man at the table next to me seemed as if he was struggling with his inner battles to go up to the girl, but eventually he made his way towards her, tapping her back, telling her something, pointing to the table he was sitting in before and reaching for his pocket to pull out some bills.

The girl looked uncomfortable, but she obliged and sat in one of the chairs at the table.

The man bought the coffee and I guess he had ordered one for himself too, because he held two coffee cups in his hands. He went towards the area with the sugars and creamers, his back covering what he was doing, and a rather large crowd of people blocking his view to the girl.

Another person had walked in, a woman frantically looking around for someone. I presumed this was the girl's mother. I caught little bits of their conversation.

"Gemma! What's taken you so long? Our flight leaves in 7 minutes! Where's the coffee you were going to order?"

Before the girl could answer, her mother was tugging at her arm, guiding her towards the door.

"Mum, wait! I have to- I have to take care of something. Really quick! It will only take like a minute!"

The girl freed herself from her mother's grasp and tried to take a look at the man, but couldn't due to the people in the way. He was still busy with the coffee apparently, because his back was still to her. She then came towards me.

"Excuse me sir? I'm a bit in a rush right now, but I must ask you for a favor. Do you see the man over there? Blonde hair, checkered shirt, yeah well he paid for my coffee and I never got to say thanks, or take a sip from it actually." She pointed to the man as she said this.

"So could you just tell him thanks from me, for the coffee, and his generosity. Thank you!"

Before I could mumble a "sure", she sped towards her mother, grabbing her from the arm, tugging her to go. The pair disappeared through the crowd of people.

The man turned back to the table and saw that no one was there anymore. His expression immediately changed to worrisome and he practically jumped through the crowd of people with their cups of coffee and tea. People complained and yelled at him for making them drop their cups, but he didn't care, he just kept going.

He looked at the chair where the girl had been sitting and saw me watching and walked towards me.

"Excuse me sir, but did you happen to see what happened to a girl that was sitting here a few minutes ago?"

He had a bit of an Australian accent. His face was as white as a sheet, even if his skin was tanned. His eyes were in fact blue, but I could see how worried they were. He was holding the coffee cups in each hand with such force, his knuckles were beginning to turn white and I was afraid that he was going to rip them. I felt a bit awkward to respond, but I told him,

"She said she was in a hurry. I think her mother came to fetch her. She asked me to tell you thanks for the coffee and for your generosity. I didn't see where they went though, because they had left in a rush."

His grip on the cups loosened and I saw his face fall, from looking worrisome to just plain sad.

He then mumbled a "thanks" and went to the trash bin, throwing the half-mangled cups of coffee away, sulking out of the Café.

That was then, when my wife started nagging me that _we_ were going to be late for _our_ flight and I finished up the last of my tea and started arguing with her again.

* * *

I had been lecturing my children, making sure that they didn't forget anything, my wife doing the same, and my oldest daughter mumbling out a "whatever" every now and then when I tried telling her something. We were halfway towards the gate to our flight, when I saw the man in the Café shop earlier, sitting in one of the blue chairs facing a large window overlooking the planes taking off.

He looked even worse now. His eyes were red and he was just a downright terrible sight. He was fumbling in his pockets, doing I don't know, but he looked so depressed.

My wife started yelling at me, "Hurry up! We have 3 minutes left!"

I yelled back, "I'm going! I just need to- uh- check something quickly."

She threw me an irritated look, but walked to the gate's door.

I stood a distance away from the man, directing my eyes to where he was looking. Out in the distance I managed to see the girl and her parents talking to each other. I assumed the man walking next to her mom was her dad, because he had said something and the girl started to laugh, looking very happy and then reached out to give him a hug.

The girl stopped abruptly and looked over to the airport, looking towards our direction to the large window. Almost immediately after she turned, she went back to her parents, making her way to the stairs leading her to the airplane.

Whatever she turned to look at, she was probably thinking about the mysterious man at the Café. When she was talking to him at the counter, she had a brief look of recognition when she saw his face. The man had also known the girl, probably before she met him. Even to this day, I wonder what would've happened if the mother of the girl named Gemma never showed up to take her away. What would've happened when the man turned around, to still see her there sitting at their table. He probably wouldn't have looked so depressed. I almost wished she had stayed because that day at the airport, it looked as if his whole world was taken away from him, lost forever.

But that day, the girl named Gemma was found by her mother, taken away to their flight. That day, the girl named Gemma never got to thank the man in person. That day, the girl named Gemma never even learned the name of the man with the coffee and generosity.

* * *

_**A.N**: Hello world! So this is my first fanfic and I'm really excited to publish it! I got this idea probably a few days after I finished the book because it was soo damn good! I finished writing this in about an hour so please excuse me if I made ANY errors, like spelling or grammar. I revised this and re-read it a lot and I hope I didn't leave behind any errors. I also hope to be writing more fics in the future (including some more Stolen one-shots, and others) Well I can't think of anything else to say so...Please review! and Thanks for reading!_

_Until next time,_

_**-Linda**_


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